Chasing Shadows: A Flame Inside
by MelodiousNocturneGirl
Summary: This is a separate part of Chasing Shadows, in which you are the main character. Your in danger and what's with Axel and these flashes of some guy named Reno? Who is he and what does he have to do with Axel? AxelxReader
1. Burning Desire

**Melo: Hey, Hey, Hey!!! If you're on this page right now that means you've chosen Axel, the Fiery Pistol and the hottest guy around, no pun intended, over watery Demyx. (Flames rise up from the ground and fiery horses race across the ground. Wolves of fire howl through the air as the majestic and flamed horses spell out Axel in the ground). I have to say, seeing as I did a Demyx thing like that too, I'm much better at imagining things and some ideas just need to stay in my head (a.k.a. that looked cooler in my mind). Whatever, onward to the first chapter of ****Chasing Shadows: A Flame Inside!**

**READ FIRST!!!: If you've read all of ****Chasing Shadows**** this chapter is the same as The Love of Water for a bit of the first part. I'll put a line after the part that's the same. Don't worry, they aren't the same chapter. There are differences so don't skip over it or you won't understand what's going on later in the series! There are different endings for ****Chasing Shadows**** and ****Chasing Shadows: A Flame Inside****. Demyx will re-appear in this one but there will be no romance. Promises! **

**Burning Desire**

"You know, I'm jealous."

You looked at him, he looked sincere enough, not the usual Axel you were used too, "Jealous of what?"

He sighed, "Demyx."

You blinked, "Why?"

He looked at you and you were transfixed in his gaze again. He was beautiful, no doubt about it. His face was angelic and you had to resist the urge to reach your hand up and touch it. You bet it was soft, and gentle.

"He has you." He took your hands in his and just as you had suspected, they were soft to the touch, "(your name), I want you. I want you to stay by my side, to be my girlfriend. No, I want you to be more than that. I want you to be my lover, my soul mate, my friend, my wife. I want you and I'm too damn jealous to let anyone else have you. It kills me inside to see you with another man. So call me over-protective or whatever you want to, I just want you for my own."

This shocked you but what shocked you more was when he pulled you into a hug, "Please, be with me. Stay with me. I love you."

You melted into his chest. Your face was on his neck and you placed two gentle kisses on it, "Yes, Axel. I'll stay with you. I won't leave you. I promise."

You wanted to look up into his eyes but realized that you couldn't be pulled away from him, "Thank you (your name). I couldn't have gone on-

He stopped and when you looked up at him you saw his eyes going wide.

"Axel? Axel what's wrong?"

There was no answer. You tried pulling yourself from him and it was as if you were being held by concrete. You couldn't get away. Not only that but you were pulling into him. You felt your heart beat go up and your chest seemed to be trying to become one with his.

"Axel! Let go!" You looked into his eyes, "Snap out of it!" Your eyes met his and everything seemed to be frozen, like you were stuck in time. You concentrated on his face for a while, it wasn't cold or anything it was just stuck. You looked into those green eyes of his and you slowly felt heat coming to your own eyes. It felt like you were looking at the sun, well, maybe not as hot. When you looked into the glass of the window from the corner of your eye, you saw that your eyes too had turned green, except yours were literally glowing.

You looked back at Axel in awe, "Axel, what's going on? What's happening?"

There was a flash and the next thing you knew was that you were spinning into Axel, as if you were being sucked into a twister. Things went flying by your head and you screamed thinking that they were going to hit you. They were large objects but you didn't get a close enough look to tell what they were. You closed your eyes hoping that the nausea would go away. When you finally opened your eyes there was a big black wormhole that was sucking you towards it. Fear's arrow struck deep into your heart and soul.

You let out on last scream.

* * *

Everything was dark for a while and you moaned as you tried to move. _Great, _you thought, _I'm stuck again. This is just like what had happened in the castle. _As you got up you realized that the world around you was black and white. You shook your head thinking it was your eyes; nothing worked.

"Where… Where am I?" You asked yourself.

"Hello?" you called, "Anybody?"

A person was walking towards you; he was black and white as well. You felt like you were in an old movie. You sighed and ran a hand through your hair and yelped as you saw that your hand was black and white as well. The person, which turned out to be a young woman, was walking towards you and seemed unaware of the fact that you just screamed.

You walked towards her as well, "Excuse me miss? Can I ask you something?"

She didn't respond but continued her path towards you. This motion frightened you and you took a couple of steps back, "Hey, c'mon! What's going on here? Can you even hear me?"

The woman was practically on you and you were about to fight her when she walked right through you. You blinked and turned to watch her walk off. There was a sound, no, it was a song. Knowing that you didn't have your cell phone on you, there was only one explanation. You watched her pull out an old looking phone and answer.

"Hello?" Her body deceived her voice; she had to be around thirty, no less.

You walked closer and felt like it wouldn't be eavesdropping since you were invisible.

Her conversation continued, "No, why? Are things ok? Do I need to come home?"

Her voice was full of concern, "Don't worry about it, I'll pay you full time anyway. Thanks. I'll be there in a sec. Tell him not to worry."

She hung up and called for a taxi, which arrived shortly. She jumped in and almost shouted the address. It was burned into your mind; Blazing Tree Apartments. The door was shut on you and you growled. There was a reason you were around this woman right? You went to the other side quickly and went to open the door and found yourself going through. Smirking you walked all the way through and attempted sitting on the seat. You went through the first time and then you thought about it, sitting on the taxi seat a second time worked. You just had to think about it.

The woman beside you was talking to herself. You leaned in to listen to what she had to say, "I wonder what he's up too; if he's alright. I knew I shouldn't have left him alone for a while."

_Who'd you leave alone? _You thought as the car stopped. The woman paid the taxi driver and once again jumped out of the car with you on her tail. She went inside the apartment complex and up the stairs to the second floor. She jogged down the hall to her left while you tried to keep up with her. She stopped at the door 118 and knocked rather hard on it. A young girl, probably 15, answered the door.

"Where is he?" the woman asked, her long hair was starting to spike a bit. It went down her back and past her rear. You didn't notice it until now but the woman was surprisingly good looking for someone in her thirties. When you first saw her you thought she was just barely turning 23 or 24.

"MOMMY!!!" a young scream came from the room and a small boy raced past the girl and into his mothers arms. He had to be around 4 or 5, his hair was long for a boy his age and in a ponytail.

The mother picked her son up and handed a twenty dollar bill to the babysitter, "Thanks for watching him, sorry he was a handful."

The girl smiled, "It's no problem, Mrs. Sinclair." And the door was shut.

After the door was shut, Mrs. Sinclair carried the young boy back to the stairs, "Now Reno, I thought you were going to be a good boy while I was gone?" **(A/N: I believe that Reno is Axel's somebody. I can't really see Axel's somebody named Lea or Ale or something like that. It doesn't fit him, but I can totally see Reno.)**

The little boy shrugged, "I missed you! You were gone for too long." He dug his head into her shoulder, snuggling up close against her.

She laughed, "I wasn't gone for more than an hour, Reno."

Again, he shrugged, "That's still too long."

Before any cute thought could be thought up in your head, the room was spinning. Both Reno and his mother were merging into one big mush of grey. You tried to stay upright but you fell constantly, funny thing was, Reno and his mother noticed nothing.

"Not again," you whined to yourself. The grey faded to black and you were pulled once again into a twister of things.

You hit the ground fairly hard and yelped as a body fell on top-er-I mean through you. You looked up to see a group of guys, all of them around 17 or 18, and they were all laughing at you.

You got up and growled, "What's so funny?"

One of them stepped forward and you held up your fist ready to fight. The guy walked straight through you and once again you were reminded you were invisible and not really there. Again, the whole planet was grey and you were nothingness. You turned just in time to see the guy fly through you. He hit the ground next to his buddies and they all snarled.

You looked back and saw a boy, face bloodied up, with long hair in a ponytail. He wasn't half bad looking. You blinked and gasped and noticed that the young man in front of you was just a five year old kid a couple of seconds ago. It was Reno.

He wiped blood from his lip and smirked, "You know, five against one isn't exactly fair, yo. But then again I could wipe da floor with all of ya's."

_So the cute kid gets turned into a street fighter? How classic is that? _You thought to yourself.

Another guy, different from the first, ran through your body and attacked Reno. He swung at Reno's face but Reno ducked, spun around and elbowed him in the gut. The guy yelped and went to bend down and clutch his stomach when Reno swung one of his long legs and kicked the guy right between the eyes. The teenager fell to the ground not making any sound.

Reno turned to face the other four, "You guys gonna continue to fight me or are you gonna run?"

All four of them jumped up at once and ran towards Reno, ready to fight. You tried to jump in on the fight as well, to aid Reno, but you couldn't do anything, they just ran right through you.

Reno threw the first punch and just as it hit the guy the swirling of grey turning to black started again. This time, you stood still and another picture appeared before you. A teenage Reno, once again, probably the same age and his mother sitting in the kitchen of a run-down restaurant. He was helping her with the dishes while she was the waitress.

The swirling started once again before you could hear anything and then stopped. You watched him ride a large elevator up to the top floor of a company building, he looked to be around his twenties; he was an adult now. He was dressed in a suit and talking to a man next to him. The man was bald with multiple ear piercings and was wearing shades. Again, there was swirling and you waited for the next image to appear. There again was Reno. He was in a small room, the bald guy next to him. They were talking with a man with spiky blond hair and a girl with long black hair. You had no idea what was going on. The swirling came again and the next thing you saw was Reno fighting a guy with long silver hair. Loads of people were running too and fro scared of something. Before you could look around you were spinning again.

_I'm going to be sick by the time this is over_ you thought.

You blinked and there you were in the rain, people had surrounded one area. Seeing that the world wasn't going to spin again you walked towards the crowd. They were murmuring things like _"I'm scared" "How sad" "Poor young man" _and so on and so forth. You walked through the crowd, literally, and saw Crime Scene tape. Officers were trying to keep people calm while crying was heard from the center of the circled off area. You walked through the officers and headed towards the crying. There, Miss Sinclair, whom you almost recognized immediately, was holding a body. You gasped as you saw that the body was Reno, a hole pierced through his chest. His eyes were wide, it was clear he was gone. Miss Sinclair continued to cry into her sons body. That's when the impossible began to happen. His body sunk through her hands and she screamed. She grabbed at the body while others panicked and back away. His body disappeared into a darkness that seemed to pull him in.

"NO! NO! RENO! YOU CAN'T GO!!! NO!!!"

He was completely gone and she continued to claw at the ground with her nails, blood coming from them, and continued to scream his name. The officers picked her up and one of them held her close, his eyes watering as well. Apparently he had known the young man somehow.

Suddenly a man yelled out from the crowd, "DAMN TURK GOT WHAT HE DESERVED!!!"

A shot rang out and people screamed and panicked. You saw the cop take Reno's mother away from the area and then the whirling began again. This time when you opened your eyes, everything was back in color and you were looking straight into Axel's eyes.

"A-Axel? Are you alright?"

He didn't respond. He just kept staring straight ahead.

"Axel?" You reached up to touch his cheek.

Just as you did he gasped and fell to the ground, shivering and sweating, in a seizure like movement.

You panicked and called out his name, "Axel! Axel!"

You barely touched his body when he screamed and stopped thrashing about. He looked up at you, startled and afraid.

"(your name), what happened to me?"

You shook your head, afraid as well, "I…I don't know."

He was breathing heavily and looking everywhere, as if he were inspecting the room.

You touched him again and he quickly looked back at you, "Axel…?"

His eyes began to water, "I'm…I'm scared. Something's not right." You gave him a concerned look. His eyes were that of a child's, "Hold me?"

As weird as it was to see Axel like this you couldn't bring yourself to not hold him. You pulled his body up into your lap and let his head rest on your chest. He wrapped his arms around you and his head snuggled into your neck, just like Reno had done to his mother.

The crying started and you panicked on the inside but remained calm for the most part, rocking back and forth, "Shhh…it's ok. There's nothing to be scared off."

Something was bothering you however, deep down on the inside. What had triggered your eyes to go like they had? Why were you seeing images of this Reno guy? And what did this have to do with Axel? Whatever it was, you were determined to find out, even if it meant risking your life.

**TBC…**

**Melo: Alright so how was the first chapter? I hope it isn't too confusing with the whole Reno and Axel thing. I hope you Axel fans are happy! **


	2. Heart of Flame

**Melo: OK, here's the second chapter of ****Chasing Shadows: A Flame Inside****. I'm hoping you guys like it! ^^ -69 helped me out on this one, so I can't really say that this entire idea belongs to me. I was in a rut and she was there to help me. So if you can you guys can give thanks to her please? **

**A Heart of Flame**

Axel's tears stained your shirt and fell down your neck tickling your skin. His sobs were soft and almost silent, never loud. The sparkle in his eyes was gone. He was down and out from what you could see. You were filled with mixed emotions as you held the older teen.

He pulled away from you gently and slowly and looked away from you, "Sorry, I um, didn't mean to flip out on you or anything." You looked at him silently, his hands were shaking and he wouldn't look back at you. It was a clear sign that he either was A) embarrassed or B) Lost within himself. He stood up and took a couple of steps away from you, "I don't know what came over me. I've never done anything like that. I've never…" He stopped and looked out the window, "I've never felt so scared my entire life. Well, not that I could remember anyway."

You didn't take your eyes off of him, "Its ok. Boyfriends aren't the only ones who do the comforting; we girlfriends have to do the same at some point."

He shook his head no, "No, we're the ones who're supposed to brave, fearless, and not much of the emotional type. I'm the one who's not supposed to be emotional, it's makes the balance equal."

You rolled your eyes, "Spoken like a true boy."

He laughed and shook his head, "Hey (your name)?"

You mumbled a sound to let him know you were listening.

He turned and looked at you, his eyes slowly closing and then he'd shake his head, "I'm going to go lay down. Whatever it was that just happened has taken a lot out of me. You'll be alright, right?"

You stood as well, "Yeah, I'll be alright."

You gave him a heartfelt smile and he returned it with a grin of his own. He walked back over to you and your forehead and then turned to leave. Once he got to the doorway he turned back and you laughed at the look on his face.

"Don't worry Axel, I'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen?"

He was about to answer when you raised up a finger, "Don't even start. I can hold my own. Promise."

He nodded and smiled and then left the room, leaving you all alone, which is exactly what you wanted. For some strange reason you had felt like you now knew the entire house upside down, inside out and so on and so forth. You ran in the opposite direction that Axel went and up a small flight of stairs. The door at the end of the stairway was a large, white, wooden door. You looked back down the stairs to make sure nobody was following you. As you touched the doorknob you felt what seemed like a headache come on and multiple images of Reno appeared in your head. Then they were gone, the headache as well. This room was going to start you investigation you could tell, but you felt it could also very well hurt you as well, emotionally and physically.

You sighed, either way it would have to be done. There were so many questions floating around your head and you knew they had to be answered. It was for your own curiosity, or at least you thought of it that way, and it was for Axel's sake. You turned the knob and entered the room. It had wooden paneling and a tan carpeted floor. There was a small queen sized bed close to the door with a window opposite of it. A small desk was beside the bed with a computer on it along with an old printer. Other than that, the room was completely plain, no decorations, nothing.

"Perfect." You said to yourself and shut the door, locking it to make sure Namine or Axel wouldn't enter. You walked past the bed and sat on the chair and pulled yourself up to the desk. The computer was a Windows XP, and you were hoping it would run smoothly **(A/N: This one that I have is getting old and likes to act up so if anyone else has a XP I know how you feel when it doesn't work ^^'). **You pressed the power button hoping it would turn on. The light turned blue and the computer started humming away.

"Good computer." You complimented it. But your smile dropped when it asked for a password.

"Crap…who knows how old this thing is and who had it. I don't want to ask Namine because she's moping around worried about Roxas and Axel's sleeping. Where to go?"

You sighed and leaned back into the chair and closed your eyes thinking what in the world the password could be. You concentrated on thinking of what the password would be and the word SHINRA popped up in your head. You couldn't shake it away, nor had you ever heard of that word before. Not second guessing yourself, you typed the word, in caps, into the computer and hit enter. Before you knew it the computer showed it's screen with 'My Computer' and such with a black background with nothing on it. You prayed as the computer loaded that it would have internet access.

_Wait, _you thought, _what are you doing? You don't really have a reason to be on here. _

You sighed and responded to yourself, _I want to find out who Reno is and look up a bit more information on Xemnas and a whole bunch of other stuff. _

The voice that came to your head wasn't your own. It was dark, creepy even. It rang through your head with every word it spoke. _Why do you want to know? Don't you know it'll end your life?_

Again you sighed, _I know, but this is the only chance I have to find out what happened to me and Axel and why that organization wants my heart. I have to know. _

The voice chuckled, _Fine, suit yourself. _

You shook your head after having noticed you'd been staring at the screen for a long time, "What was that?"

No answer. The voice was gone.

You gathered yourself together and saw that the computer had finished loading. You scanned the four rows of icons and noticed that half of the things on there were strange. The icons were all folders that had weird names under them like LK-5 or JW-9. At first you thought they were all just random things but then it dawned on you, they were case files. You felt like clicking on them, but your conscience got in the way. Finally you found the Internet Explorer icon and double clicked on it. You thanked God that it didn't ask for another password. You typed in Google and thus your search began.

-RenoAxelRenoAxelRenoAxelRenoAxel-

You sat staring at the screen hoping something would come to you. What could you look up first?

You shrugged, "Why not look up Mrs. Sinclair?"

You typed in Sinclair hoping anything would come up. Nothing. You got a bunch of stupid fan-sites on some animated person and a couple of company or business things. Apparently there was a city nicknamed Sinclair also.

You sighed, "What about Reno?" you asked yourself while you typed in his name. You scrolled down the page seeing nothing but stuff on Reno 911 or Reno Nevada. You leaned back into the chair as the clicked onto the next page. It was the same on this page as the last. You clicked again hoping for the best. Nothing. You growled as you clicked onto the next page. Again, there was nothing there to help you. You ran you hand down your face in distress.

"There has to be something here. There just has to be."

You thought back to the memories. He was a teenager that lived the hard life apparently, you remember the looks of the city and the fact that he had been in a fight. So that could explain why it was hard looking him up. Then you remember seeing him in that elevator in the suit. He was working and he looked professional. He became a somebody, a big one at that.

Then it hit you. The password. It wasn't a person, or maybe it could've been but you didn't care. It was a company. It was where Reno was at that time. You sat straight up in your chair again and typed in the word "SHINRA" in all caps. A website appeared and you clicked on it before even reading what the site was about. At first the website was just white words on a black screen but then a building appeared in the background. The building was large and dark looking with a symbol tattooed at the top. There was a search button at the top and you double clicked on it. There was a blank spot and an arrow which helped you pick which section to look under. There were five different sections: Weapons Development, Public Safety Maintenance, Urban Development, Science Department, and Space Exploration.

"Great, well at least I won't have to search over one hundred different things. Let's start at the beginning and search till the end."

You searched Reno in the Weapons Department and only found that he used an Electro-Mag Rod as a weapon, nothing else was on him There was nothing about him in Urban Development, in the Science Department, or the Space Exploration. There was only on section left and it was the Public Safety Maintenance run by some guy named Heidegger. Frankly you didn't care who it was run by as long as it lead you to Reno. Saying a silent pray in your heart you typed in Reno's name one last time. His name appeared but it appeared under the name of the Investigation Division of the General Fairs Department. You clicked on it, knowing it was some sort of lead. His name appeared under the word TURKS. You shrugged and clicked on it.

A paragraph appeared before you and you shrugged leaning into the computer screen and read out loud softly to yourself.

"**Turks: **The Turks are a group that performs covert operations on behalf of Shinra, including espionage, kidnappings and assassinations. They also scout for potential candidates for Shinra's elite military unit, SOLDIER, and serve as bodyguards for the Shinra executives. The group's full name is the Department of Administrative Research." You stopped as you realized most of whatever was left of the paragraph was crossed out. Somebody obviously didn't want anybody else reading that. You found the names of each Turk, some names were marked out but four remained; Rude, Reno, Elena, and Tseng. It was presumed that Tseng was the leader, as it said in the paragraph. You ignored your heart pounding as it registered in your mind that Reno was some sort of murdering spy. You clicked on his name ready for more information, or so you thought.

You read that he was directly under Tseng, which surprised you just a little as you recalled the memories, and that he was an excellent pilot. You scrolled down as you saw that more information had been marked off when you found a date. _November 21: Reno Sinclair's death date._

You held your breath as you read aloud to yourself again, "Former Turk, Reno Sinclair, was killed today by a mysterious attack that left his body seeping and sliding into a dark matter. The young man was scouting an area for senior officer and leader of the Turks, Tseng, when there was a loud bang. Rude, who was Reno's partner and friend, immediately noticed that the bang came from where Reno was supposed to be and rushed off to help his fellow Turk. By the time Rude had reached the young red head it was too late. Elena, another Turk arrived on scene shortly after Rude. Tseng was inside the ShinRa building at the time and knew very little about what was going on. Elena comments about what she saw saying, 'I remember when I arrived Rude was holding me back and at first I thought he was trying to keep me from seeing Reno, but I soon realized I was wrong. Reno's body was covered in large black creatures with glowing yellow eyes and a strange heart shaped tattoo on them. I have no idea what they were. They were made from the planet and I'm sure that the ShinRa didn't make them either.' In a matter of minutes, the Turk leader, Tseng, appeared at the scene of crime with medics closely behind him. A crowd had now formed around the young man's body, his eyes lifeless and he wasn't breathing. The mother of said young man rushed forward from the crowd and caressed her son's now dead body. It was said to be a horrific sight that got even worse."

You stopped not able to go on, because your mind was spinning as well as it was marked out once again. This was exactly what you had seen in your vision. You saw everything and knew it too be true.

You quickly sat up and went back to Google. Those creatures that Elena had spoken off, they reminded you of your first encounter with Demyx. It was those same creatures that had attacked you. Had they really gotten Reno too? And look what they did to him! Would they have done the same to you to if Demyx wasn't there?

You typed in black creatures, yellow eyes, and heart shaped tattoo. Instantly thousands of sites came up. You clicked on multiple of them but they did nothing. They were all just reported attacks. You must've scrolled through 15 pages of nothing. Then a site came up at the last minute. Someone on the same computer you were sitting at must've tried getting into this site multiple times because it said it had been visited over 500 times. You clicked on it, knowing there must've been important information on there. The site came up but it asked a riddle:

"**Essential to some**

**But not for all**

**You have to overcome**

**The darks ones call**

**Alone in the night**

**I whisper to you**

**Giving you a fright**

**But you know what you must do**

**I give most life**

**But others sorrow**

**Too much strife**

**To go on to the morrow**

**The next day comes**

**Light for most**

**Shadows for some**

**But there is no ghost**

**Some with eyes like cats**

**Yellow and bright**

**Some fly like bats**

**Running alongside the night**

**What neither of these have**

**They both want to gain**

**But it's like trying to ride a wave**

**In the thunder, lightning, and rain**

**I am what they seek**

**They want nothing more**

**Without me they're weak**

**They just want somebody to open the door."**

You sighed, "Holy cow, now there are riddles?"

You began to scan every word that you thought would work with this riddle, for starters you were never good with riddles anyway. You sighed and stretched. You were running out of energy. You bookmarked the page and as you were exiting out of the computer you changed the password into logging on. You were sorry that whoever else in this household wouldn't be able to get on anymore but you needed this to be for you and you only for the meantime. As you shut down the computer you heard door slam.

"That's never a good sign." You spoke to yourself.

"Yeah, it's not."

You yelped and jumped turning towards the door to see Demyx standing there. His eyes were agitated and full of sorrow.

He moved a bit as if trying to get comfortable, "You and Axel huh?"

You nodded, "Yeah…Demyx I…"

He shook his head, "Don't. I'm still sticking to this side, but don't expect any romance from me. I'll stay out of it with you and Axel."

He turned to leave the room, you in shock, "Oh, and you might want to be careful next time. That's a personal computer, I'm not sure some people here would appreciate it if you were messing with it. But I won't tell anyone." With that he left, leaving you to yourself.

"Demyx…I'm sorry." You sighed knowing that you had hurt him a lot, "But I love Axel and I'll stay by his side till the end of time."

**TBC….**


	3. Truth Revealed

**Melo: Sorry that I haven't been around guys, if you haven't read my profile, I had my Wisdom Teeth removed, so I was trying to rest and keep myself out of pain. But here it is, the third chapter of Chasing Shadows: A Flame Inside. Hope you guys enjoy it!**

**Truth Revealed **

You raced downstairs to greet everyone but you weren't extremely excited to see Demyx. You still wanted to be friends with the older boy but things were difficult. Your emotions were out of control and you could tell from the look in his eyes that he was clearly hurt but also angry. When you entered the small kitchen Axel was sitting in a chair, his face in his hands, and he was abnormally silent. Roxas was holding Namine, his arms around her stomach to where her head was leaning in on his shoulder. Demyx stood near the oven, his arms folded and his head down, and he was leaning against the paneling. You wondered why on earth everyone was so down. They had gotten back safely, why weren't they happy?

As soon as your footsteps were heard Roxas, Namine, and Axel looked up. Demyx didn't even bother too. Axel pulled a chair out for you and gestured for you to sit down. You nodded and walked beside him and sat in the chair. He wrapped his arm around your shoulders and pulled his chair closer to yours.

Roxas was the first to speak up, "(your name), there are some things we need to tell you."

Even in Axel's arms, you felt yourself tense up. Roxas, although he was a boy of little words, was serious. They were all serious. Something big was coming up and you were debating between it being extremely bad or painful to hear; one of the two. Axel's arm tightened on your shoulder.

Namine spoke up, "(your name), if you haven't noticed we're not exactly human… None of us are."

You nodded, "Yeah, I've noticed. So, what's your point? Being different doesn't matter to me."

"But it does to us, because it puts you in danger. A danger that can and will kill you…" That was Axel. You looked at him and his eyes seemed to give off a dangerous glow itself. The seriousness in his eyes was what wasn't real. It was scary and his whole demeanor seemed to change. He seemed dark, melancholy, and apprehensive. It wasn't at all like the Axel you'd known.

Then it dawned on you, "Wait…it'll KILL me?!"

"Calm down," Roxas spoke in a tone that was amazingly calm, "We've got a plan."

Demyx scoffed, "Well, that's if Axel would agree to it."

Axel glared at him and you looked back and forth at the two males, "Agree to what?"

Axel turned his glare on you, "It's not happening so why even ask?"

You glowered at him, "I think I have the right to know."

He sighed, apparently irritated, "(your name)…I'd rather you not know."

Demyx sighed, "Well if you aren't going to tell her, I am." He looked your way and you stared back. His eyes held no emotion, for the first time you had met him, and also for the first time you were really scared of him, "We're what you call Nobodies. We once were human but now that's in the past. Our hearts were stolen from us from those creatures that attacked you when we first met. They're called The Heartless."

"Heartless?" You repeated. That explains the tattoo on their body. But weren't those the same creatures that attacked Reno? You remembered the description and remembered your encounter with them.

It was Namine that spoke up again, "When a Heartless attacks a person, their body disappears into darkness. When the heart is strong, really strong that persons body gets a mind of its own. A piece of the spirit stays behind and the body moves around. But there's no heart thanks to the Heartless and thus we're created."

"But there are some that are different," Roxas spoke, "Me and Namine are different from the rest. Our Somebodies, or the person who was taken by the Heartless, are alive and well and we don't have to inhabit one another's body. The rest of the Organization's Somebodies, like Axel and Demyx, are dead and gone for good. There's just something about us that's different."

"So, what's your plan?" It then hit you, "You want to turn me into a Nobody," You looked at all four of them, your eyes landing on Axel, "to protect me, don't you."

Axel clinched his fist, "I don't want to but there doesn't seem to be any other choice man."

The room became silent once again. Then Demyx sighed, "Let's get this over and done with." He took a step towards you and that's when Axel jumped up. Demyx sighed again, "What are you doing?"

Axel growled at him, "We can't do this now! We can't just give her life up like this!"

You stood up as well, "Axel, I want this though. I want to be with you forever and there's no other way."

He turned and snapped at you, "There has to be another way!"

Demyx scowled, "When did you start caring about people? You've always been to jump on the gun type of person. What changes you now?"

Axel sneered at him, "I love her!"

Demyx took another step towards Axel, "When did you ever learn to love?!"

Roxas stepped in, "Stop it you two! Fighting about it isn't going to get you anywhere."

Namine, timid as always, stepped up beside her boyfriend, "Why don't we take a vote?"

Axel snapped at her as well, "There's nothing to vote about!" With that he stormed off towards his room. Seconds later a door was slammed and he was gone.

You sat down and sighed, "I'll talk to him in a bit."

Demyx, still glaring, turned his glare to you, "Actually, what I'd like to know is what you were doing in the computer room."

Roxas and Namine turned to you, "You can get into the computer room?" Namine asked.

You looked at them like they were crazy, "Uh, yeah, I can. Why?"

Roxas shook his head, "When a Somebody comes here they have never been able to go inside the computer room. It just disappears when they're here."

You shrugged, "I just went upstairs for some privacy and then saw that there was a computer and decided to get on Google."

Demyx's glare didn't leave however. Roxas and Namine shrugged and Roxas grabbed himself a glass of water, "I guess it's because you've been involved. It makes sense to me."

Namine nodded and then asked Roxas if he wanted to go watch a movie in the living room. He nodded and they were gone as well. You turned to look at Demyx, to see if he was still in a foul mood, but he was gone. You saw his shadow walk towards his own room and then another door was slammed and you were alone. You thought about the conversation and what was going on. You remembered the riddle. It clicked in your brain and you thought you knew what the password was. You ran back towards the computer room.

The room was still there, complete with bed, desk, and computer. You locked the door once again and then sat down in the computer chair, ready to rock and roll again. You turned on the computer, this time a little more impatient for things to get started. Once there, you clicked onto the internet and signed in. You clicked on the bookmark and the page popped up, the riddle still there. You read through it again:

"**Essential to some**

**But not for all**

**You have to overcome**

**The darks ones call**

**Alone in the night**

**I whisper to you**

**Giving you a fright**

**But you know what you must do**

**I give most life**

**But others sorrow**

**Too much strife**

**To go on to the morrow**

**The next day comes**

**Light for most**

**Shadows for some**

**But there is no ghost**

**Some with eyes like cats**

**Yellow and bright**

**Some fly like bats**

**Running alongside the night**

**What neither of these have**

**They both want to gain**

**But it's like trying to ride a wave**

**In the thunder, lightning, and rain**

**I am what they seek**

**They want nothing more**

**Without me they're weak**

**They just want somebody to open the door."**

There was a blank for you to fill in what the answer was. You sighed, "Cross your fingers…" You typed in the word "Heart" and clicked enter. What you didn't expect was the page to go nuts. The words started scrambling around and flowing down the page, looking like something straight from The Matrix. Everything was a blur, colors and words mixing together as one, there was no sound, which you thanked God for, and then everything stopped. The page stood still, yet the computer wasn't frozen. You moved the mouse around and scrolled back up and down the page. Nothing; just a white blank page of nothingness. You sighed and were becoming agitated when words melted onto the page. They were tiny black words to where you had to squint to see them.

"Nothingness is Eternal." You whispered out loud. Black writing was appearing everywhere, mentioning Heartless, Nobodies, Somebodies, and hearts. There were multiple things but then they all merged into a blob onto the page. The page was completely blank again, but this time, it was large and black.

You sighed and moved the mouse again, hoping things would change, but this time, the mouse wouldn't move. The computer had frozen.

"Aw, c'mon!" You yelled, "Not when I've gotten here!"

Then the room shook violently. You screamed and instantly thought earthquake. You jumped from the chair and looked for a place to hide. That's when you noticed, it couldn't have been an earthquake the bed was sliding and the room was completely tilting, as if you were on a ship rocking with the waves. As you tried to stay upright a symbol appeared on the door. It was the symbol that was on the Heartless's bodies. You were sliding towards it and then, the worst happened. Those creatures, with the glowing yellow eyes and the all black bodies started crawling from the symbol and towards you as you slid. Hunger was in their eyes and you knew exactly what it was from. Just as you were in the grasp of one, and screaming your head off wondering why nobody could hear you, those letters and numbers that appeared on the screen of the computer made a barrier between you and the Heartless.

A light flashed behind you and you turned your head to see another symbol. It was a symbol you had seen in the castle that you had been captured in. You looked back and forth between the two symbols. When you stared at the newest symbol, creatures of white appeared, just like on the date you went to with Demyx. They too walked towards you in a slinking manner.

Your eyes went wide, but there was a barrier between you and them as well. That same voice appeared in your head, _"Are you ready?"_

"Ready for what?" You asked it as the house rocked between the two symbols.

_"It's your turn now, (your name)."_

You relaxed and watched as the two alien beings fought over you. You had no idea why you were relaxing; your life was in danger! You felt like you had just been drugged and watched as the Heartless over came the Nobodies. Information was floating into your head. You knew that the white beings were apart of the Nobody clan and that they were known as Dusks. The Heartless that were attacking were known as Neoshadows. You watched them fight and then blinked as one of the Neoshadows came close to you and cocked its head at you curiously.

"Take me..." You whispered to it, knowing full well of what would happen. You knew that you would become a Nobody and your heart would be lost forever, but that's most of them thought. You had other plans. You smirked in an evil fashion as the Heartless placed its hand on your chest.

"Go ahead, you know you want it." You laughed but not for long.

The Heartless thrust it's hand into you skin and grabbed a hold of your heart. Your scream could've shattered windows, but you were expecting the pain, you knew it was coming. However, it was still unbearable. As it pulled your now seizure-like heart from the rest of your body, pieces of muscles and your nerves snapping like twigs under its fingers, you arched your back in pain. Finally, it was gone, but so was every other emotion. You blinked and then couldn't stop staring. The figure was about to run but more Nobodies had appeared, just as you had planned. You smirked as you felt the darkness cover you. At first, you were afraid, you were very afraid, but now you were calm, but your face probably portrayed pain, just like it had for Reno. You were swallowed by darkness and bright X came for and revised your name. Then you were back in the room. Everything was destroyed and the Heartless began fighting over your heart, not noticing your presence. When you stood up, you were in a black cloak and the hood slightly covered your eyes. You pulled it back to get a clear view and that's when the Heartless noticed you. They dropped the heart and were on the defensive.

You chuckled and let out a laugh, snapping your fingers, "Foolish beings…"

Four dusks appeared at your side and then attacked the Heartless, killing them off. They brought the heart to you and bowed. You picked up the organ and materialized a chest and placed it in there.

You gave it to one of the dusks, "Take this somewhere safe, but away from anyone in the Organization XIII."

They bowed and disappeared. You sighed and sat on the bed, "Axel's going to kill me.."

**TBC…**

**P.S.: I'm making your weapon two Daggers. I'll get pictures of the type of Daggers I'm picturing. I'm hoping you'll like it. **


	4. Hiding Secrets

**Melo: Sorry that it's been so long guys. School's been a killer. Anyway, this is the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it! I've loved the reviews for the stories, I really appreciate it. ^^**

**Hiding Secrets**

You fell to your knees. You were taking deep breaths. You grabbed your chest and felt…nothing. You were exhausted and sweat was pouring down your forehead. You guessed it was dangerous meddling with the world of the nobodies. Perhaps you were in for more pain than you thought you were. It was distressing. You hands were shaking, heck; your whole body was shaking. You were having hot flashes and then cold, and then hot, then cold, hot, cold, hot….cold… Breathing was becoming harder. You coughed and used the black sleeve of the cloak to cover your mouth. To your horror, blood was on the sleeve. It confused you. If you had no heart, how could you have blood?

"Your body isn't used to being without a heart. It's clearing out all the remaining blood."

You jumped and pulled your twin daggers out from the darkness. You faced the newcomer and glared at them ready to strike.

You heard a gasp and you saw them back up a little, hands coming up to their chest, "Please, (your name), I'm not here to hurt you."

The voice was recognizable. You lowered your weapons slightly but the glare stayed, "How do I know that you're the real deal?"

You felt metal make contact with your neck, "Because I'm here with her."

You looked over your shoulder. A black blade rested on it and a young man with spiky blond hair was holding it. You lowered your weapons, "Alright, Namine, get your boyfriend to let me go."

Namine walked forward and smiled at both you and Roxas. She waved her hand and sighed as the blade came off of you, "Sorry about that. Roxas can be a tad bit defensive." She brought her finger and thumb together to indicate the "tad bit" defensive.

Roxas made his way towards her and then shook his head, "What made you make this decision? Axel's not going to be too happy."

You winced, "It wasn't exactly my fault. I was…" You trailed off. You felt you could trust Namine, but what about Roxas? He was Axel's best friend. I mean, wouldn't he tell Axel about this.

Namine noticed the wince, "I'm guessing you're scared about what he's going to say."

Roxas snorted, "She should've thought about that before she did anything."

You glared at him, "I said it wasn't my fault. I was reading something on the computer and then they jumped me. I didn't have a choice." You lied through your teeth and it wasn't exactly hard to do. You were partly telling the truth. But what would they think if you had knowingly committed suicide.

He nodded and added skeptically, "Sure.."

Namine nudged him, "Roxas…" She looked at you, "Well, what are you going to do?"

You shrugged and sat down in the computer chair, "I guess I'll…just act casual."

Roxas laughed, "You think he won't notice the black cloak?"

"I'll hide it."

He cocked an eyebrow, "The daggers?"

You shook your head, "Won't summon them."

"And the heart?"

You shrugged, "I already got that covered."

Roxas laughed, "I understand that the dusks have taken it away and hidden it from all the other nobodies but…" He paused.

You rolled your hand at him to continue, "But…?"

He gave you another doubtful look; boy was he the mood to tear you down, "What about when he hugs you? He knows that heartbeat is going to be there, or at least he thinks that. What are you going to do when he doesn't feel that anymore?"

You smirked, "Cardiomyopathy"

They both glanced at you, "What?"

"Cardiomyopathy. It's a disease that affects the heart and the way it pumps blood. I doubt Axel knows anything about it. People can inherit it."

Namine winced, "Doesn't sound like fun."

You shook your head, "It's not."

Roxas crossed his arms over his chest, "So you're basically going to lie."

This time, you flinched, "I don't want to but, until I can gather the courage to tell him and he's not ready to tear the house to bits, yes, I'm going to." You glanced at the two, "You guys won't tell….right?"

Roxas was about to disagree when Namine stepped in, "We won't tell. Promise. This stays between the three of us."

You nodded your thanks, even though Roxas was in the background shaking his head and whispering, _"I don't like this."_ You smiled, "Thanks guys. I don't know what I would do without you."

Roxas raised a finger and pointed it at you, "Don't thank us yet. You haven't been able to pull off the lie yet."

Namine pushed him towards the door, "We should leave. Oh, and (your name)?"

You glanced at her, "Yeah?"

"I'll bring you some clothes to change into." She smiled, "And I wouldn't mention to Axel that the heart disease is fatal."

You laughed softly, "I won't."

She smiled at you and then continued to push Roxas out the door and then they disappeared.

-*_*-*_*-*_*-*_*-

You sat at the computer table and were nearly sawing logs when the door opened. You jerked up and looked at Namine. You rested your elbow on the desk and your head on your hand, "What took you?"

Namine blushed, "I was…busy."

You wiggled your eyebrows, "Ooh, getting busy with Roxas?"

Her face went redder, "It was just kissing, nothing else."

You smiled, "Where'd you think I was going? Dirty mind you got there Namine."

She threw the clothes at you and rolled her eyes, "Be nice."

You laughed, "I will, I will."

You sighed and looked back at the computer. She glanced at you and then at the computer and then right back at you, "What's wrong?"

You flicked the computer screen, "It's this computer. It's what changed me and now I can't even get it to turn on."

"It…changed you?"

You looked her way, "I…didn't exactly tell you and Roxas the whole story."

She sat down on the bed, "I'm all ears."

You sighed and sat up, "Well, you see… I found this website and it was crazy. It had this huge riddle on it and when I finally guessed it, the computer went nuts! It was like something out of an old spy/sci-fi movie. I didn't understand what was going on and then…These words popped up. They said, 'Nothingness is Eternal.' Then they appeared. First it was Heartless, and then it was Nobodies. I wasn't thinking straight and I pretty much invited them to come at me. Next thing I know, I'm handing my heart to the dusk, telling them to hide it, remembering that Axel's going to kill me when he finds out what happened, and then I was hacking at Heartless."

Namine sighed, "You knowingly did this? Why would you?"

"Isn't the answer obvious?"

She looked you in the eyes and you looked straight back, "I love him." You took a deep breath, "I mean, how can I not love him? Nobody or not, Axel he's just this burning flame that I want to touch. I can't live without it. You know," you looked down and then back at her, flipping hair out of your face, "people are attracted to fire, like a moth is to light. We're mesmerized by it. It enchants us. Its flames dance like something we've never seen before. It's like diamonds that the first people here found. We crave it. People would rush from miles around to come find it. It calls to us. It beckons us. We can't resist it."

Namine smiled, "One thing though, you have to remember (your name). When playing with fire, no matter how mesmerizing it is, you will be burnt."

You shook your head, "Not this time. This time…the fire is on my side."

"But you're lying to your flame. How're you going to fix that without getting hurt?"

You sighed, "I haven't gotten to that part yet."

She looked down, "I'll help as much as I can." She looked at the door, "Well, I'm going to go so you can change. See you downstairs."

As she left a tear fell down your cheek, "Am I willing to let myself get burned."

**TBC…**

**Melo: I'm sorry that it's short, but I couldn't think of anything more. By the way, Cardiomyopathy is a real disease. I couldn't think of anything so I looked up heart diseases on Google and look what popped up? ^^ Anyway, have a Happy Thanksgiving, y'all. I'll write as much as possible this week. Oh, and I've got a new poll up, please help! **


End file.
